I don’t know if you caught the news, but the plaintiffs in the O’Bannon suit have filed a motion asking the court to expand the scope of the claim dramatically.
… O’Bannon seeks a judge’s permission to expand the class action to include current D-I football and men’s basketball players. O’Bannon does not ask that current players be paid while in college. Instead, he wants a temporary trust set up for monies generated by the licensing and sale of their names, images and likenesses. Players could access those trusts at the completion of their collegiate careers. A star college quarterback like USC senior Matt Barkley, for instance, generates significant monies for USC and the Pac-12 Conference. Under O’Bannon’s proposed trust, when Barkley finishes his time at USC, he would receive money for four years’ use of his name, image and likeness. Under an economic formula proposed by O’Bannon, players would receive half of the NCAA’s broadcasting revenue and one-third of video game revenue, with the remainder of revenue staying with the NCAA, conferences and colleges.
I’m skeptical the judge will go along with this, but I can’t say this argument in particular doesn’t resonate.
… O’Bannon also dismisses the series of documents student-athletes are required to sign as part of their participation in college sports. These forms require student-athletes to accept the NCAA’s use of their name, image and licensing. If a player refuses to sign these forms, he will be deemed ineligible to play, which could jeopardize his athletic scholarship and ability to afford college. O’Bannon repudiates these forms as “contracts of adhesion” or unenforceable no-choice contracts.
Does anyone think any current football/basketball stars are likely to join O’Bannon’s suit? It sure would be interesting if that happened.
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Get The Picture 
that is a lot of cheddar for the players.
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Riiiiiight. It’s about the education when it is beneficial to be about the education. Be careful what you ask for… even if you have a point. If the NCAA has to give up that much of its revenue, don’t expect the players to be rolling in it all of a sudden. I could see players being required to graduate to receive the stipend… after all, it’s about the education.
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“… after all, it’s about the education.” Truer words were never spoken. Plus Emmert will make them produce the long-form of their diploma and three forms of photo ID to get the application papers to start the process for the redistribution of wealth from those who earned it the old-fashioned way by stealing it
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What’s with the photo ID? We aren’t talking about Fl elections.
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Voter suppression uber alles, baby!
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
http://www.thenation.com/blog/169709/voter-suppression-confederacy-rises-again#
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I realize you are being sarcastic but that isn’t a bad compromise. A portion of all TV revenues split evenly amoungst all D1 athletes from that sport. Put each year’s funds in a trust and when a player graduates he gets his share.
Sharing the revenue offsets the huge recruiting advantage to big money schools. Having to graduate puts some education skin in the game for players at all levels and sports.
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I hope several of them do sign up and the this last bastion of “amateurism” will finally start to crumble. It is ludicrous to think that a player gives up his likeness rights forever simply because the NCAA wants to hold onto an antiquated business model that is fundmentally flawed and inherently elitist.
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I thought a “contract of adhesion” was when you super-glued yer fingers together. I can see some interesting meetings with players about joining the suit. Which meetings would then become further fodder.
Senator, since this is sorta what you do for a living, why don’t you give us an idea about the chances this thing has for ultimate success.
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This isn’t even close to what I do for a living, so all I’ve got is pure talk-out-of-my-ass. The NCAA has a good track record with this sort of litigation. Former players have a shot at winning, but I don’t see current players prevailing.
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If there is not a graduation requirement, wouldn’t this be an incentive for some (poorest) to leave school early?
If there is a graduation requirement and the student becomes academically ineligible, or for some other unforeseen reason cannot finish school (i.e. is Sabaned out of a scholly), is he not compensated?
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You know, this could be an incentive for players to make their # famous. Of course, you don’t want to have AJ’s # if you want to sniff the gold.
If a player makes a jersey famous enough to cause great profits to ensue from it’s purchase, what’s the odds that player will be poor when he moves on? That do make for a conundrum of reasoning, don’t it?
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The “image and likeness” thing is going to be a winner for the players. The formula for a division of broadcast spoils, not so much.
We do not watch CFB for the individual players. If AJ Green and Julio Jones had both gone to Marshall, following in the footsteps of Randy Moss, I would have watched exactly zero more Marshall games.
Most of the players playing NCAA sports are being used to one degree or another – but I think it’s the sure-fire future pros that get used the least. It’s the bottom of the rosters, which see so much turn-over in all the sports, where kids are getting left out in the cold.
I would love to see the NCAA – or at least the top tier of schools – guarantee the academic side of the scholarship, no matter what happens to the player’s roster status.
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NCAA has created a welfare state with its distribution of scholarships and the rich revenue generators (footbal/basketball) paying for the poor revenue takers (everything else). How do the balance of college sports survive in the wake of 33% less football/basketball revenue?
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